It is well known in the art to add minerals and vitamins to beverages in order to fortify beverages with healthy or desired vitamins and minerals. One problem associated with this, particularly with respect to the mineral potassium, is that once the mineral is added, the acidity will tend to change to an undesirable degree. In particular, adding potassium citrate causes the pH to rise of a beverage. To maintain the pH of the potassium fortified beverage at a desirable pH, an acid, for example, either citric or malic acid is typically added to the beverage.
It is known that as a beverage becomes fortified, the pH of the beverage will rise, and therefore the beverage becomes more basic. To counter this, an acidulent is typically added to the beverage in order to keep the pH of the beverage lower. The acidulent is added in order to bring the pH of the beverage down and counter the effects of fortification. This is desired because as the beverage is more acidic, it becomes more resistant to microbial growth. As an example, a typical juice is desired to have a pH of around 4.3, where it will exhibit a reduction in the rate of growth of spoilage microorganisms